Wary of defections, KCR to send BRS MLAs on foreign jaunts soon

Hyderabad: BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao has adopted a new strategy to keep his flock together as the party MLAs will be busy on foreign tours in the coming days.

According to the party leaders, this attempt is aimed at keeping the MLAs in the party and avoiding desertions. The party has suffered a setback in the form of the defection of MLAs to the Congress party in the past few months. As many as ten MLAs have switched over to the ruling party. The BRS party, which had won 39 seats in the Assembly elections in 2023, now has only 28 MLAs. The party could not retain the one seat where the elections were held after the demise of the sitting MLA. There are speculations that a few more BRS MLAs were looking to join the Congress party; hence, the main opposition party was trying to take precautionary measures.

To overcome the problem of desertions, the BRS chief is contemplating sending them on foreign tours. The MLAs were supposed to visit some cities in Japan. However, the plans were dropped after news reports of earthquake and tsunami warnings. “Sir wanted us to visit foreign countries to see the best practices in governance. We wanted to visit Japan, but it changed after the earthquake,” said a MLA from the city. Party leaders said that all 28 MLAs, including the party’s working president, KT Rama Rao, will be going on the foreign tour. Most likely, the tour is likely to start in the first week of next month, the MLA added.Sources said that the party was already in the process of booking tickets, and it is said that the MLAs would be sent in batches, and the BRS working president would also join the trip.